Now Available: The University of Michigan Press Ebook Collection

by Kathryn Beaton on January 17, 2019

The University of Michigan Press Ebook Collection (UMP EBC) is now live on Fulcrum! First announced in 2015, this collection of ebooks for sale to libraries currently consists of over 1,100 titles, and will include at least 80 new books every year as well as a growing backlist. The title list can be found here.

“This was a complex project that took years of strategizing and development,” said Melissa Baker-Young, Web Project Manager for Michigan Publishing.Thanks to the hard work and dedication of the Fulcrum development team and Press colleagues, the UMP EBC launched on time, within budget and scope. A project manager’s dream.”

The UMP EBC deeply reflects Michigan Publishing and University of Michigan Press’s renowned and ongoing commitment to innovation.

One thing that helped the building of the University of Michigan Press Ebook Collection go smoothly is that it uses the same platform that Michigan Publishing had been developing for other digital scholarly collections, such as the ACLS Humanities EBook collection or A Mid-Republican House from Gabii, said Jeremy Morse, Director of Publishing Technology at Michigan Publishing. He added, “The features developed specifically for UMP EBC launch were those that would make the collection most attractive to library constituencies, such as the ability to generate share links for specific books or improved COUNTER 5 reporting, or supporting the business rules of the collection.”

Now that the content and metadata are finalized for the 1,000-plus titles currently on the platform, the challenge going forward will be “establishing the workflow to keep new titles flowing onto the platform as they reach publication”—something Morse and his team feel ready for.

As of January 2019, 15 university libraries have purchased the collection, including Columbia University and the University of Rhode Island. Andrée Rathemacher, the Head of Acquisitions at URI, said, “At a time when most of our materials budget goes to STEM content from large commercial publishers, it feels good to support a non-profit university press that is publishing monographs on an open source platform. I appreciate the researcher-friendly license terms, the affordable pricing, the availability of multiple ebook formats, and the support for multimedia content.”

As more libraries continue to invest in the University of Michigan Press Ebook Collection, the community and demand for ebook content will grow. “It is remarkable the amount of library community support we’ve had pre-launch, in particular from the Charlotte Initiative libraries like University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and Duke University. We are delighted to bring on more libraries now that we’ve officially launched, and are particular excited at the prospect of working with libraries of all sizes, including supporting our community college and specialist libraries,” shared Lanell White, Director of Sales and Marketing.

Libraries can purchase the collection via LYRASIS, a non-profit organization that acts as an agent for its 1,200 members (and other clients) to buy content collections and technology solutions. Learn more about the collection here.